Jones Blair Co Case Study

Jones Blair Company

Jones Blair Company is a privately held corporation that produces and markets a range of paint and sundries under the Jones Blair brand name. The sundries are not manufactured by the company however they are sold under the company name. Jones Blair has a large OEM coating division which distributes worldwide. The company’s architectural paint and allied products sales volume in 1999 was $12 million, and net profit before taxes was $1,140,000. The dollar sales have increased by 4% per year over the past decade.

Develop a corporate strategy for Jones Blair Company to increase profits. The U.S. paint industry is divided into three broad segments:

1. Architectural coatings (43% total industry dollars)

2. Original equipment manufacturing (OEM) coatings (35% T.I. dollars)

3. Special-purpose coatings (22% T.I. dollars)

Total U.S. industry dollar sales in 1999 was $13 million. The US paint industry is considered a maturing industry.

Distribution

The company distributes its products through 200 lumberyards, paint stores and hardware outlets. 40% of these outlets are located in the 11 county Dallas – Fort Worth area with the remaining being situated in the 39 counties in the service area. Retail outlets outside the DFW area exceeding $50000 in paint and sundry purchases only carry Jones Blair. This is an important area in which Jones Blair need to keep their market saturation as outside this most retailers carry two or three different lines.

Service area

The Jones Blair company markets its products in over 50 counties in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Louisiana from its headquarters in Dallas, Texas. They faces increased competition in recent years from several companies such as Sears and Kmart, Sherwain – Williams and Home Depot. This has therefore increased competition for retailing space in stores. Alexander Barret president of Jones Blair notes that a typical lumberyard or hardware store gets 10% of its volume ($65000) from paint and...